Haggis, Neeps and Tatties

A Shaggy Haggis Story

A Haggis is a creature found in the Scottish Highlands that lives on the sides of mountains. An unusual aspect of the Haggis is that the legs on one half of the body are longer than they are on the other. This makes them perfectly adapted to run around and round the steep sides of the mountain in either a clockwise, or anti-clockwise direction depending on which side are longer. Unfortunately this Darwinistic edge proves also to be their downfall. To catch the Haggis chase it round a mountain in the opposite direction. It's disproportionate legs will now cause it to fall over and it can be easily netted.

The Reality. Or is it...
Some say that the haggis is made from a sheep's pluck (heart, liver & lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, & salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally boiled in the beast's stomach. This is in fact 'mock haggis' the real version runs around the hill tops.

Buying you can either make your own haggis, which any self respecting foodie should try at least once in their life (when I do I'll blog it), or buy one. If you buy a haggis go for the best brand you can find. If your outside of Scotland, MacSween haggis is widely available and very good. They also do a vegetarian haggis for any vegies out there. My own personal favourite is from Findlay's of Portobello, which used to be my local butcher when I lived there a few years back. One year they had the audacity of taking the title of best haggis in Scotland which upset MacSweens a bit. Crombie's of Edinburgh also make a fine Haggis and a damn fine sausage too. For details of other quality Haggis check out the Scottish Association of Meat Traders website.

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Serving
Haggis is the National dish of Scotland and is traditionally served with neeps and tatties. Tatties are potatoes. Neeps are a purple coloured, orange fleshed type of turnip that South of the border are called Swedes. The reason for this disparity in names, is that this variety of turnip was originally imported into Scotland from Sweden. The slang name for it was therefore the Swede.

Ingredients (serves 3)
1 or more haggis around 500g (or is that haggi?) More if you are particularly greedy, which I generally am on Burns Night.
2 large turnips
3 large potatoes (Maris Piper or King Edwards is recommended)
Unsalted Butter
Full Cream Milk or cream
Salt and Pepper
Sugar
Freshly Grated Nutmeg
Ground Ginger

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Cooking

The Haggis

Method 1 Boiling

• First wrap the haggis in tin foil. The skin may burst during cooking so this acts as a backup in that event.
• Put in a large pan of warm water and bring to the boil
• Lower the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes. Note that a shop bought haggis is already cooked so we're just warming it through.

Method 2 - Steaming

When I bought my Haggis today from Findlay's of Portobello, the butcher asked me how I normally cooked my haggis. When I told him the method outlined above he said that a much better method is to gently steam it. The problem with boiling is that quite often the Haggis splits. Although the foil does somewhat lessen the effect, it still somewhat ruins the dish. By using this alternate method of steaming you eliminate this possibility and thus are guaranteed a quality end product every time.

• Preheat the oven to 180C
  
• Lay the Haggis in a similar sized roasting or baking tray and pour in about half an inch of water.
• Cover in tin foil making a seal
• Cook in the oven for 1 to 2 hours, until the Haggis is cooked through,
  

The Neeps

• Peel and quarter the Swedes
• Put in a saucepan filled with cold water
• Bring to the boil and simmer for a further half an hour
• Drain and mash
• Mix in some butter
• Add salt, ginger and sugar to taste You could also try adding a pinch of curry powder)
  

The Tatties

• Peel and quarter the potatoes and put in a pan of cold water
• Bring to the boil and boil for a further 20 minutes
• Drain and put back on a very low heat for a couple of minutes
• Mash well
• Add the butter and stir in
• Heat the milk / cream first and stir it into the tatties a bit at a time until smooth but not sloppy.
  
• Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• Grate on the nutmeg.

On Burns Night
To serve put a portion of neeps and tatties on everyone's plate and put on the table. Bring in the haggis and get someone to read Burns's "To a Haggis". At the end toast the haggis with a dram of whisky with the host raising his glass in the air and shouting "The Haggis". Then with a large knife slit it open. Serve, eat, enjoy.

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